Committee for Racial Justice presents:
One year into the SM Black Apology – Let 2024 be the Year of Action, Part 2
Taking our land back; Reclaiming our past
Sunday, February 4, 2024
6 - 8:30 pm – Refreshments at 6:00pm & program at 6:30pm
Location: Virginia Avenue Park
Thelma Terry Bldg.
2200 Virginia Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Free Hybrid Workshop
Committee for Racial Justice (CRJ) will host our February workshop, open to all, this coming Sunday on the 4th at Virginia Ave. Park’s Thelma Terry Center at 6pm for some food, with program start at 6:30pm (also on zoom). This is the 2nd of a series of workshops that will focus on the theme of One Year after the SM Black Apology – Let 2024 be the Year of Action. The January workshop focused on Education issues. This Sunday evening the focus will be on Taking our land back; Reclaiming our past. The resource people for this workshop will be Kavon Ward, the facilitator for the recent return of Bruce’s Beach to the family that had lost that asset to institutional racism; Milana Davis, a representative of the family of Silas White, the owner of the Ebony Beach Club, which was taken by the city of Santa Monica in the 1950’s ; and April Banks, the artist/architect who created the Belmar historic installation in Santa Monica to commemorate the burning of homes that housed primarily black and brown families in the Belmar triangle neighborhood.
Those unable to join us at VAP for a light supper at 6pm, can click the following link in order to register and receive the zoom link for Sun. night: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkduippjkpE9N2BbIgYNriCEZYEhtDQP2_
Kavon Ward is an award-winning spoken word artist and activist who has won 1st place at the historic Apollo Theater with her piece, “I Am Trayvon Martin”. Kavon is also the founder of Justice for Bruce’s Beach and has led the historic and successful movement that made it possible for stolen land to be returned to the descendants of Black landowners. Kavon was named a 35th Senate District, 2022 Woman of the Year by Senator Steven Bradford.
Kavon has since been quoted in the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker, and a host of other articles. She has interviewed with NPR, 94.7 The WAVE, and a number of other radio stations, to discuss what justice for the Bruce family means and what reparations for Black Americans look like. She is also a reparative justice consultant and Founder and CEO of Where Is My Land, an organization focused on getting Black land back nationally. She is a former Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) fellow and public policy lobbyist. Kavon holds a BA in Communications and a Masters of Public Administration.
April Banks, who worked with the Belmar Arts & History Project to create a memorial to the destruction of a local black neighborhood, is an artist and creative strategist working across visual art, social engagement and exhibition design. Her practice sits intentionally between image, space, and experience. Her work re-imagines absent and erased images, narratives and places. Creating speculative histories and futures, she challenges the archive and representation of the Black diaspora, She will be interviewing and taking part in the discussion on 2/4 with Kavon Ward and Milana Davis, a representative of the family of Silas White, the owner of the Ebony Beach Club, which was lost to the city of Santa Monica by a claim of eminent domain due to the need for “civic parking” (never built on that land).
Come join in this important workshop on zoom at 6:30pm (register with the above link to be sent access) or meet with us in person on February 4th at 6pm for supper , if you are able. You won’t want to miss this lively and informative gathering with handouts and a petition you might want to sign.
Email us by 5pm this Thursday 2/1 at committee4racialjustice@gmail.com if you will need child care
For more information, call Joanne at 310-422-5431